MLB

New York Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge and St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt have been named this year's Hank Aaron Award winners as the game's top offensive players for the American League and National League, respectively.

Judge hit an AL-record 62 home runs. He also posted MLB highs with 131 RBI, 133 runs and a 1.111 OPS. His .311 batting average was second in the AL as well.

Goldschmidt amassed 35 home runs and 115 RBI to go with a .317 batting average. His .981 OPS led the NL.

Judge put the Yankees offense on his back en route to a 99-63 record, an American League East title and an ALCS appearance.

No other regular hit better than .261, and only one other Yankee (Anthony Rizzo) posted an OPS better than .761.

The 30-year-old looks primed to win the AL MVP award. He's now a free agent, however, adding his name to a loaded class that includes fellow All-Stars Trea Turner, Willson Contreras and Carlos Rodón, among others.

Thanks largely to Goldschmidt's efforts, the Cardinals won the NL Central with a 93-69 record. They fell to the eventual NL champion Philadelphia Phillies in the wild-card round.

Still, Goldschmidt enjoyed a tremendous season that also included his seventh All-Star appearance. The four-time Gold Glove winner is the presumptive favorite for the NL MVP award as well.

The 35-year-old will be back in St. Louis next year and has two years left on his contract.

The Philadelphia Phillies fell short in the World Series, but they may have another superstar on their roster as they attempt to reach the sport's biggest stage again next season.

"There's some interesting rumblings that he wants to be here," Jayson Stark of The Athletic said of free-agent shortstop Trea Turner during an appearance on 97.5 The Fanatic.

Turner is part of a loaded free-agency class at shortstop that also features Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson as the headliners.

Philadelphia potentially being interested in one of them doesn't come as much of a surprise considering it reached the World Series largely relying on Bryson Stott and utility man Edmundo Sosa at the position.

They can each be solid players but don't exactly inspire the same level of fear in opposing pitchers as Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber, J.T. Realmuto, Rhys Hoskins and Nick Castellanos do as part of a powerful lineup.

Upgrading at shortstop by adding Turner to that group would be daunting to the rest of the National League East.

The 29-year-old's resume includes two All-Star selections, the 2019 World Series title when he was a member of the Washington Nationals and the 2021 batting title when he hit .328 across 148 games for the Nationals and Los Angeles Dodgers.

He spent the 2022 campaign in Los Angeles and slashed .298/.343/.466 with 21 home runs, 100 RBI and 27 stolen bases as a multi-tool player who can impact the game a number of ways. Turner can also play a serviceable shortstop and has been responsible for a combined nine defensive runs saved above average throughout his career, per FanGraphs.

Turner will be a highly coveted free agent this offseason, but a desire to join the Phillies would surely help the reigning National League champions in their pursuit.

The San Diego Padres were aggressive at the trade deadline with Juan Soto as their primary addition. The question now is whether they will engage in contract extension discussions with the star outfielder, and his agent has what he believes is the answer.

"I don't think it's a question of 'if' they'll do that," Scott Boras told reporters. "I think the question is how they do that. I'm sure before they traded for him, they had a lot of that in mind."

Boras was also asked how open to those discussions Soto, who is not scheduled for free agency until after the 2024 season, would be this offseason.

"The great thing is he had time to acclimate himself there," the agent said. "It's not exactly a difficult market to adjust to. I think he's enjoyed his time there and has certainly enjoyed the competitiveness of the team, being in the playoffs."

San Diego landed Soto, Josh Hader, Josh Bell and Brandon Drury in a flurry of trade deadline moves and parlayed the aggression into a National League Championship Series appearance.

While the Padres lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, it isn't difficult to envision more deep playoff runs next year and beyond with the return of Fernando Tatis Jr. to a core that now features one of the best players in baseball in the 24-year-old Soto.

His resume already includes a World Series title from his time on the Washington Nationals, a batting title, two All-Star selections, two Silver Slugger awards and a Home Run Derby crown.

Yet he got off to a slow start with the Padres and ended up slashing .236/.388/.390 with six home runs and 16 RBI in 52 games following the trade.

It may have taken some time to get acclimated, as Boras highlighted, but Soto's track record suggests he will return to his position as one of the league's best in the coming seasons. The Padres will likely have to pay him accordingly, though, to keep him.

After all, the two-time All-Star rejected a 15-year, $440 million extension offer from the Nationals in July, which started the process that ended with him being traded to the Padres.

Whether it will take more than that for San Diego to keep him aboard remains to be seen, but it will surely take quite the offer. Given Soto's age, production and star power, there will likely be other teams more than happy to pay such high numbers if the Padres can't come to an agreement.

Four days after winning the World Series and amid rumored tension with ownership, James Click could be on the verge of returning to the Houston Astros in 2023.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Astros owner Jim Crane said he is "in discussions" with Click on a new deal.

In a report on Oct. 2, USA Today's Bob Nightengale noted Click's job security may depend on the Astros winning the World Series because Crane has "never warmed up to him" and has "long questioned whether he’s the right guy" to be general manager.

Following the Astros' 7-0 postseason start ahead of the World Series, The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal provided more insight about Crane's reasoning for not being sold on Click as general manager:

"Sources familiar with the Astros’ situation who are not authorized to talk about the team’s operation cite a variety of potential reasons for the uncertainty surrounding Click: Stylistic clashes between the 44-year-old executive and the 68-year-old Crane, disagreements about the size of the baseball operations staff and concern from Click about other voices in the organization influencing the owner."

Click and manager Dusty Baker were hired in 2020 in the wake of Jeff Luhnow and A.J. Hinch being fired as a result of the cheating scandal during the 2017 season.

Baker's original deal with the Astros was for one year with a team option for 2021. He signed a one-year extension for 2022 in November 2021.

The Astros announced on Wednesday that Baker has extended his deal to return next season.

Click has been working without a contract since October 31. The 44-year-old spent 15 seasons working in the Tampa Bay Rays' front office from 2005-19 prior to being hired by the Astros.

In three seasons with Click as general manager, the Astros have made the playoffs three times and reached the World Series in each of the past two seasons, including a victory over the Philadelphia Phillies this year.

Houston's 106 wins in 2022 were the second-most in franchise history (107 in 2019).

Josh Donaldson isn't going anywhere.

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told reporters Tuesday that Donaldson will remain the team's third baseman next season despite his struggles in 2022, per Sports Illustrated's Pat Ragazzo.

"Cash went on to laud Donaldson’s defense and says his offense is better than what he showed last season, they believe he still has a lot left," Ragazzo wrote in a Twitter post.

Cashman's comments come after Yankees manager Aaron Boone evaluated Donaldson's 2022 season during an appearance on The Michael Kay Show (h/t Sports Illustrated's Max Goodman) last week:

"I know it was a grind for him offensively, I know it was a struggle like it was, frankly, for a lot of our guys in the postseason. We didn't perform as well as we would have liked offensively. That wasn't all Josh. But the competitive at-bat thing I think was there, especially because he was one of the guys actually getting on base at a consistent clip, even in the postseason. It was just getting to that big hit or big swing that would really help get him rolling. That didn't happen for a number of our guys."

The Yankees hoped Donaldson, who was acquired in the deal that sent Gary Sánchez and Gio Urshela to the Minnesota Twins ahead of the 2022 campaign, could revive his career in the Bronx.

Instead, he put together one of the worst offensive performances of his career as he struggled at the dish, hitting .222/.308/.374 with 15 home runs and 62 RBI in 132 regular-season games. He also struck out 148 times.

Those struggles continued into the postseason as the Yankees went on to be swept by the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series after finishing first in the AL East with a 99-63 record. Donaldson hit .172/.333/.207 in nine playoff games and struck out 16 times.

The one thing that is likely keeping Donaldson's job safe is the fact he had a solid season defensively with 78 putouts and 220 assists.

Donaldson is set to earn $21 million in 2023, the final year of his contract. If he doesn't turn things around at the plate, it's reasonable to believe the Yankees will move on either by the trade deadline or after the season.

Dusty Baker isn't going anywhere.

Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston reported the Houston Astros will announce during a Wednesday press conference the longtime manager is returning in 2023 to lead the reigning World Series champions.

Despite the success the organization has recently enjoyed, apparently it wasn't always a sure thing Baker would return.

In September, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (h/t Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors) said Baker and general manager James Click's contracts were "a topic that has been whispered about in the Astros organization, people both in and out of the clubhouse, since the beginning of the season" with Click in particular "not just a rubber-stamp thing."

According to Rome's reporting on Tuesday, that remains the case for Click:

While there was some uncertainty, keeping Baker in the dugout means the Astros still have one of the best managers in the league leading the way.

The 73-year-old, who was also a two-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger and Gold Glove winner as a player, has three Manager of the Year awards and two league pennants on his resume. He has managed the San Francisco Giants (1993-2002), Chicago Cubs (2003-06), Cincinnati Reds (2008-13), Washington Nationals (2016-17) and Astros (2020-present) with a 2,093-1,790 overall record.

His teams have made 12 playoff appearances, but an elusive World Series crown remained the one glaring omission until this season.

He came close in the past when his 2002 Giants lost the World Series in seven games to the Anaheim Angels, the 2003 Cubs fell one win short of reaching Fall Classic and the 2021 Astros lost the World Series to the Atlanta Braves.

It was championship-or-bust in 2022 for Houston, and it was no surprise that Baker steered the team through such a pressure-packed situation given his track record.

The Astros won the American League West with ease at 106-56, which was the best record in the AL and good enough to earn a first-round bye in the new playoff format as one of the top two seeds.

Then they parlayed that into the crowning achievement of the manager's career.

Even before the championship, it was impossible to classify Baker's time with Houston as anything but a success given the reality of the situation when he took over ahead of the 2020 campaign.

Houston's sign-stealing scandal had just stunned the baseball world, and MLB responded by fining the franchise $5 million, stripping it of its first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021, and suspending then-general manager Jeff Luhnow and then-manager AJ Hinch for one year.

The Astros fired both Luhnow and Hinch in the aftermath.

All Baker did was lead the team to the American League Championship Series in the shortened 2020 campaign, the World Series in 2021 and the title in 2022.

Now he is back and looking for a second championship ring.

Catcher Willson Contreras will become a free agent after declining the Chicago Cubs' $19.65 million qualifying offer, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

Contreras, who will turn 31 years old in May, is a three-time All-Star who has spent his entire seven-year MLB career with the Cubs. He had 22 home runs, 55 RBI and an .815 OPS in 113 games last season.

Heyman noted that Contreras "should do extremely well on the open market."

The Detroit Tigers already appear to have interest, per Jon Morosi of MLB Network:

The Houston Astros had been interested at the trade deadline, so much so that they and the Cubs agreed to a deal that would have sent starting pitcher Jose Urquidy to the Windy City pending ownership approval, per ESPN's Jeff Passan. But that approval never occurred.

Elsewhere, Ben Frederickson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch wrote last month that "the Cardinals should strongly consider benefitting from the Cubs' loss" of Contreras.

Regardless of where Contreras winds up, that team will get one of the best offensive catchers in baseball.

Only two catchers with 300 or more at-bats last season had a better OPS than Contreras. One was his brother, William Contreras of the Atlanta Braves. The other was J.T. Realmuto of the National League champion Philadelphia Phillies. Willson Contreras is good enough at the dish to serve as a designated hitter, which he did 39 times last season.

The cost to sign Contreras certainly won't be cheap, though. Heyman reported in June that Contreras would "likely be seeking" a deal of more than $100 million over five years.

That could be worth it for a player of his caliber, and Contreras will be one to watch as the hot-stove season rolls on.

Chicago White Sox outfielder AJ Pollock has declined his $13 million contract option for the 2023 season and will become a free agent, according to ESPN's Buster Olney.

Pollock will receive a $5 million buyout as a result.

The White Sox acquired Pollock from the Los Angeles Dodgers just six days before the 2022 campaign began in exchange for Craig Kimbrel.

His decision to decline the option on his contract comes as somewhat of a surprise given his performance in 2022. He slashed .245/.292/.389 with 14 home runs and 56 RBI in 138 games with the White Sox.

The 34-year-old began his career with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2012 and spent seven seasons with the franchise, earning his only All-Star selection in 2015 after slashing .315/.367/.498 with 20 home runs, 76 RBI and 39 stolen bases in 157 games. He also earned a Gold Glove that year.

After his stint with the Diamondbacks, Pollock joined the Dodgers for three seasons and helped the franchise claim a World Series title in 2020. His best season with the Blue Crew came in 2021, when he slashed .297/.355/.536 with 21 home runs, 69 RBI and nine stolen bases in 117 games.

Now that Pollock is set to become a free agent, the White Sox will have an additional $10 million to spend in free agency. However, it's unclear if they'll use that money to add another outfielder alongside Eloy Jiménez, Luis Robert Jr. and Adam Engel.

Aaron Judge is expected to be the most sought-after outfielder on the market, but players like Andrew Benintendi, Tommy Pham, Joey Gallo and Joc Pederson might be more reasonable targets for the White Sox.

The White Sox also need to focus on re-signing slugger José Abreu and pitcher Johnny Cueto, among others.